A Very Carmilla Halloween!
by thecirclesquare
Summary: Carmilla Webseries: Laura/Carmilla — A little bit of fun leading up to my favorite holiday — some of my new favorite characters dressed up as some of my other favorite characters. (Headcanon: After episode 17, the Scooby Gang confirms that Carmilla is a vampire, but she isn't the one kidnapping the girls on campus.) Reposted from tumblr. Archiving here for accessibility.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, let's get one thing straight. I went to that stupid Zeta costume party to keep an eye on Laura, because that's my job.

It had nothing to do with the fact that when she stepped out of the bathroom, she was wearing La Fontaine's lab coat, or that her hair was pulled back into corn rows and fake dreads, or that her eyes were smudged with thick, black eyeliner, or that a pair of thick black glasses sat upon her nose.

It had nothing to do with the way she raised her hands in the air and squealed, "Ta-da!"

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" I grumbled from behind my well-worn copy of _Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness._

"Isn't it obvious?" she said, twirling.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, okay, wait," she said.

She raised her hands, entwining them in front her chest. Then she crossed her legs, looking at me all flirty from beneath her eyelashes, giving a bouncy shrug of the shoulders as she spoke.

"Enchantée," she said.

"I don't get it," I said.

"Oh, come on!" she said. "I'm Evo-Devo?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Is this like a gender-bent Doctor Who thing?"

"God! It's like you've been living under a rock for the last century!"

"You're not far off," I mumbled under my breath.

"I'm Cosima Niehaus?! The hot clone?!"

"Cosima who?"

"Cosima who? Cosima who? Um, just one of the plethora of clones portrayed by the goddess, Tatiana Maslany, in the genre-bending little sci-fi show that could, Orphan Black, that's all!"

"Hmm," I said, settling further into Laura's yellow pillow. (Or, should I say _my_ yellow pillow?)

"Is that, that new prison show?"

"Ugh!" she grunted.

She plopped herself in front of her computer.

"Oh, crap! I'm late!" she said. "Danny's going to be here any minute! How do I look?"

She asked me in earnest, and I wanted to give an earnest answer, but I also wanted to see her squirm. I bit my lip and looked her up and down, really taking my time, really stretching it out, really drinking her in.

_You look delicious,_ I thought.

"Fine," I said instead.

I shrugged my shoulders for emphasis.

"Fine?! Fine?!" she said, running to the closet, pulling open the door and looking at her reflection.

"I'm not supposed to look fine…unless, you meant like, _fine_, fine…but if you only meant fine then that is definitely not fine."

She looked at me, her eyes pleading.

"So which was it?" she said.

"What are you rambling about?"

"Did you mean just fine, or did you mean _fine_, fine?"

"What do you think I meant?" I asked, setting my book aside.

"You know what, forget it. It doesn't matter," she said. "I've got to go."

She closed the closet and leaned over her bed, rummaging through her bag.

"Okay, let's see… Stone Age flip phone? Check. Room key? Check. Pepper spray… "

I sighed and stood up.

"Here," I said. "I know what's missing."

She turned around, pepper spray at the ready.

I jumped back.

"Whoa! Be careful with that!"

"Oh, sorry," she said. "You startled me."

I reached for her hand.

She flinched.

"May I?" I asked.

She shrugged her shoulders.

I grabbed her hand, raising it up. I looked at her bare wrist, running my thumb over the delta of blue veins just below the skin. She watched me, her hand trembling so slightly that a mere mortal might not have noticed it.

But I did notice it, and when I looked into her eyes, I noticed something else — hunger.

"Tattoos," I said.

"What?"

"Cosima's tattoos… the nautilus… the dandelion?"

She sighed and slouched to the side, a relieved smile on her face.

"You've been playing me this whole time?"

"A girl's gotta get her kicks somehow," I said. "Besides you're just so easy… to tease, that is."

She pulled away.

"Well, it's too late for tattoos. Danny's gonna be here any minute."

"Nonsense," I said. "I'll be fast, I swear."

I grabbed a permanent marker from the table.

"You're not serious?"

"Dead serious," I said.

But she didn't move. She stood still, clutching her bag to her stomach.

"Look, if she shows up, I'll stop," I said.

"Alright," she said.

She sat down on the chair, laying her arm out over the corner of the desk. I sat down on the foot of the bed, leaning over her wrist.

She flinched when I pulled off the marker cap, and again when I pressed the cool tip against her skin.

"Which do you want? The nautilus or the dandelion?" I asked.

"Um…" she stuttered. "I don't know."

She glanced at the door.

"Whichever is fastest."

"Don't worry," I said. "Your girlfriend isn't here yet. When I smell her, I'll let you know."

"Alright," she said.

I thought she'd be mad, but instead she leaned forward, looking down at our hands — which were quite intertwined.

"The dandelion, then," she said in a half-laugh.

I smiled without looking up. I traced the delicate shape out onto her wrist, never faltering, never hesitating, and when it was done, I lifted her wrist to my mouth and blew softly on the wet ink.

Our eyes met.

She shivered and pulled her hand away just as the door opened.

"Hey, are you ready?" Danny said.

She was wearing a lab coat and a curly blonde wig.

"Or, should I say, _enchantée_?" she said.

_Oh, couple costumes!_ I groaned internally. _Gross!_

Laura stood up, backed away — her every motion charged with guilt.

"What's going on?" Danny asked.

"Nothing. Carmilla was just helping me with my costume."

"Oh, hey, Carmilla," Danny said, her voice forced.

"Danny — It's always a pleasure."

I put the lid back on the marker.

"You should cover that tattoo with clear nail polish," I said. "So it won't smudge."

"Oh, um, I think it will be fine, I mean, we're late, so, we'd better…" she stammered and stepped backward toward Danny, but her eyes were locked on my mine and her face was twisted into an apology. "We gotta go."

_I don't want your pity,_ I thought.

"Fine," I said.

"Don't you have any plans tonight?" she said.

"Are you kidding? On Halloween?"

"Yeah," she said. "You know, spiders, ghosts, goblins… I thought it'd be right up your alley."

"Nah, I'd rather stab myself in the back of the hand with a spork than hang out with those Zeta guys. Besides, I've got Mr. Poe to keep me company. Reading "The Tell Tale Heart" is kind of a Halloween tradition of mine."

"Oh, okay…" she said. "That's a little strange…"

"Yeah, haven't missed it for, like, a century."

I sat back down on my bed and stuck my nose in my book.

"Let's go," Danny insisted from the hallway.

"Well, if you change your mind…" she said.

And then she was out the door.

I threw the book onto the floor, walked to the window and looked down on the leaf-covered quad. The sun was just setting, and the sight of it was uncomfortable to say the least, but I pressed my face against the curtains and waited for the happy couple to walk out into the coming night.

I watched their backs like a tiger watches it's prey.

When they were halfway across the lawn, Laura turned back, glancing up at our window. I retreated further behind the curtains. Then Danny slipped her hand into the crook of Laura's elbow and I felt a seething in my stomach.

I heard a loud crack. Startled, I looked down to see the permanent marker in my hand, its shape contorted, the plastic cracked, the black ink leaking out, running in rivulets down my palm, and then falling like black tears to the floor.

_If you change your mind…_ her words echoed in my head.

_If I change my mind…_


	2. Chapter 2

Let's get another thing straight, I only dressed as a cowgirl because it was so easy; already in a plaid shirt, I only had to throw on a hat and some boots and I was golden.

Yes, I had changed my mind. Even though I still hated the idea of hanging out at the Zeta house, I hated the idea of Laura there even more; Danny's hand on her back, or maybe brushing the hair from her cheek; one of those red plastic cups in her hand, a cup filled with a spooky bubbling punch that was so sweet you'd hardly notice the taste of arsenic, or worse, a drop of _Deadly Nightshade_.

My mind reeled with the dangers, but then I'd lean back on the bed, refocus on my book, and reassure myself that Laura would be fine. I'd given her the bat wing bracelet after all, and even though I hated to admit it, Danny was a pretty good bodyguard — not as good as me, but being the mere mortal that she was, what was to be expected?

A curious thing happened, though. As I laid on the bed, I found myself in a lingering state of discomfort. I would turn to my left side and feel a tingling numbness in my ribs; I'd turn to the right and feel a burning in my cheeks; I'd lay on my back, and feel as though the weight of a mighty wave was crashing down on me.

_It's only the story,_ I told myself. _It's only your own tell-tale heart. It will pass. Don't let it drive you mad._

But it didn't pass. I even tried laying on my stomach, my head at the foot of the bed, and my feet kicked up behind me. But that was the worst position of all. Instantly, the blood rushed to my head, and I felt a dizzy pounding at my temples, a pounding that seemed to come from both inside and outside of myself, a pounding that pulsated through the walls of the room, then up through the mattress itself, until the whole bed seemed to gyrate beneath me.

_It's coming from under the bed,_ I thought.

I stood up, lifted up the mattress and growled; there, strewn haphazardly beneath the corner of the mattress, was the bat wing bracelet.

_Of course!_ I thought. _How had I missed the fact that she wasn't wearing it!?_

I'd been so distracted by the bareness of her wrists — by the pink flesh, and the pretty, branching blue veins — that I had completely overlooked the cause their perfect bareness, completely overlooked the absence of the bracelet.

"Shit," I whispered — only partly because I was worried about Laura, but, also because now I had to put together some lame costume.

And worse, I had to think of some lame excuse.


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as I arrived at the Zeta house, I knew that Laura wasn't there. How did I know? I could smell it — I'd been sleeping on her pillow for a reason, training myself for a situation just like this one.

And if that wasn't enough, I could hear it; her nerdy little laugh — I'd recognize it anywhere — and even more so, her heartbeat…

I closed my eyes and listened.

I heard the raucous sounds of collegiate flirtations; confident declarations, bad pick-up lines, nervous laughter, slushing bottles, and slurred speech. I phased it all out, and honed in. I heard excited hearts, drunk hearts, pounding hearts and murmuring ones, but I did not hear hers.

It only took a moment and I knew.

Luckily, I caught sight of Laura's friends, Perry and LaFontaine — or should I say Alison and Helena?

"Hey! Clonesbians!" I shouted over the din of the room.

Visibly afraid, they cowered as I approached, but I was used to it.

"Carmilla? What's brings you here?" Perry said.

"Where's Laura?"

"Uh, she's… she's here somewhere," LaFontaine said.

"No, she's not," I said.

"Yeah, yeah, she is. I just saw her," Perry said. "She went that way, I think."

"No! She's not! I can smell it!"

By the look in their eyes, I knew I had popped some fangs. They backed away.

"Oh, well when you put it that way…"

Perry pulled out her phone, scrolling through her messages; the last one was from Laura.

_*Hey, we're stopping by Harrison Hall for a little amateur ghost hunt! Don't wait up!*_

"Oh, well, would you look at that!" she said.

But I had looked at it. In fact, I had already read it and vanished, leaving them behind in a cloud of black smoke.

I reappeared inside a darkened hall, the ceilings high and echoing. The sounds of my arrival — like the fluttering of a dove's wings — resounded off the stained glass windows, and then everything was still.

_Harrison Hall! _I thought. _I should have known! A Silas mating ritual if there ever was one!_

I had to give it to Danny (at least I thought it was Danny's idea) — walking the darkened halls, arms intertwined, searching for a ghost that doesn't exist — it was a pretty solid plan to get Laura into her arms.

I sniffed the air.

_She's here,_ I thought. _And she's aroused…_

Though from fear or from something else, that was yet to be determined.

Just then, I heard a terrified scream, not far off, but far enough.

"Laura!" I cried out.

I ran toward the sound, but when I got to the end of the hallway, I heard another scream, this time more urgent, coming from behind me.

"Laura!" I cried as I spun around. "Where are you?!"

I ran to the other end of the hallway and turned the corner.

And then I stopped dead in my tracks, because there in the hallway, as dark as it was, every single classroom door stood open, each glowing white in the light of the moon, each standing attention, like a row of ghostly soldiers.

_Strange,_ I thought. _Harrison Hall isn't supposed to be haunted. That's just an urban legend._

Then, as if to prove me wrong — _BANG!_ — every door slammed shut at the same exact moment.

The sound shook the window panes but I stood still, squinting into the darkness, because something wasn't quite right.

I sniffed the air again. I caught a whiff of a familiar smell, but I couldn't quite place it. It was overpowering and outdated, the kind of cologne men used to wear when they still refused to bathe, the kind of cologne that filled the ballrooms of sweaty Victorian dancers, the kind you could smell on the battlefields of Waterloo, or in the court of the last King Louis. It was the smell of sandalwood, frankincense, sage and cinnamon…I knew that smell.

_Dracula! _

Just then, a great current of wind kicked up about me, tossing my hair up, and whistling loudly in my ears. The fragrance circled around me, along with a howling — it was not the howling of the wind, but the howling of sinister laughter.

He appeared slowly, not in a cloud of black smoke, as I often did, but as a translucent shadow of himself, and then, like an egg cooking, he solidified into an opaque white.

"Whoooooooooooh!" he howled.

He raised his hands in the air and with an expression of mock terror on his pasty white face, he howled again.

"Dracula," I said, as cool as a cucumber. "I see you haven't changed your cologne since the last time we met."

"Whooooooooh! I'm not Dracula, I'm the ghost of Harrison Hall! Aren't you scared?!"

"Buzz off," I said.

He dropped his arms.

"What you don't like my costume? I'm a ghost," he said.

"Yeah, it's great," I said. "I'm terrified. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh come, that's all you have to say? I mean, look at me! I'm a ghost! I've been practicing. I can, like, disappear and stuff. Do you want to see me walk through a wall?"

"Not really, no," I said.

"Come on, aren't you a little impressed? Just a little bit?"

He said this with his thumb and forefinger together, like a teacher to a child.

I don't take to kindly to patronizing, so I punched him in the gut. He doubled over.

"What was that for?" he grunted.

"Just wanted to see if you could walk through my fist," I said, grabbing him by the ear.

He squealed beneath me.

"Gah!" he shouted. "Lay off! Lay off!"

"Say mercy," I said.

"Mercy!" he shouted.

I let him go.

"Jeez!" he shouted as he rubbed his ear. "What's wrong with you? Where's your Halloween spirit?"

"I hate Halloween," I said.

"What's your costume, anyway? What are you, like, a construction worker?"

"I'm a cowgirl…just… shut up about Halloween, okay?"

"Fine. Then why are you here?"

"I'm looking for someone. Um… a friend. I know she's here."

"There are quite a few someone's here. You're gonna have to be more specific."

"Well, she's tiny — about yay high — fake dreads, fake glasses, fake lab coat, traveling with a real Amazonian."

"Ah-ha!" he said. "I know just the ones. They'll be in the gymnasium, I think. Scared the crap out of them with a little ghostly decapitation."

"Where did you learn all these stupid tricks anyway?"

"A magician never tells," he said with a wink.

I regarded him for a minute. He was a pain in the ass, but it was nice to see a familiar face.

"Well," I said, letting my arms down. "I mean, that door thing was pretty cool, I guess."

"Really? You think so?"

"Yeah," I said. "I mean, I wasn't scared, but like, you've got good dramatic timing."

"Aww! Thanks so much for saying that!"

He tried to hug me.

"No hugs," I said. "But I could use your help."

"Shoot! Anything for you, big sis!"

"First, don't call me that. Second, I need you to distract the Amazonian, give me some time alone with the tiny one."

"Look at you!" he said. "You always were so broody and romantic!"

I raised my fist, one more punch at the ready. He flinched.

"So, you'll do it?" I growled.

"That depends," he said with his hands in front of his face.

"On what?"

"Let's hang out sometime! I mean, I never get to see you!"

I thought for a moment.

"Fine," I said, letting my fist down. "But no brothels."

"Deal," he said, sticking out his white hand.

I reached for it and it vanished at the wrist. He snickered.

"God! You're so annoying!" I shouted, but I was laughing, too.


	4. Chapter 4

The plan was simple — get Laura alone.

I waited in the hallway, just outside the heavy double doors that led to the gymnasium. I knew Dracula would flush them out, as easy as a cat flushing out a pair of scared mice. I stood in the shadows, ready to pounce.

But I waited so long, that I began to suspect something was wrong.

_What's going on now?_ I thought.

I pressed my ear to the door.

Dracula was right; I heard more than one heartbeat. There were nearly half a dozen of them, huddled together in pairs in different corners of the room, so terrified that their pulses sounded as loud as beating drums — a resounding rhythm that got my blood boiling and my mouth watering.

And there, right in the middle of the room, there she was.

I could _smell_ her! I nearly blasted right through those doors, but I bit my lip instead.

_What's taking so long?!_

Then lightning flashed! (Though the skies had been clear only moments before.)

Lightning flashed and the trapped mice screamed!

I resumed my position in the shadows just as the double doors swung open.

_One little mouse, two little mice, three little mice!_

They ran past me, and down the hall but none of them were her.

_Four, five, six!_

I heard shouting and a struggle coming from the darkened gymnasium.

"I've got him! I've got him!" Danny shouted.

"Hold him still!" Laura shouted.

_Now what?!_ I thought.

"Get your filthy human hands off of me!" Dracula protested.

"Spray him!" Danny shouted. "Spray him!"

"No one touches the Ghost of…"

But he was cut off by a hissing spray that gagged and choked him. He spit and sputtered.

"My eyes!" he howled. "What the hell?!"

"Run!" Laura shouted.

I heard their footsteps approach — two sets of footsteps where there should have been one.

_Damn it, Dracula! You had one job!_ I thought.

I stayed in the shadows until they passed. It wasn't the right time to make my move. And when I entered the gymnasium, I found Dracula — the infamous and terrible — sitting in the middle of the basketball court, nursing his inflamed eyes and running nose.

Tears ran down his face as he growled. No, growl isn't the right word — it was more of a whimper.

"Well, that didn't go exactly as planned," I said.

He howled, and if one didn't know better, they'd think it was the howl of a ferocious beast and not a crying man.

"What was that fire water?!" he said.

"Oh that? That was pepper spray," I said. "A miracle of modern self defense."

I grabbed him by the elbow and lifted him up.

"Why would anyone invent that? Why?!"

"I know, tell me about it. Humans and their darned need to protect themselves," I said.

"Protection? That stuff is inhumane!"

"Anyway, how did they even get close enough to pepper spray you? I thought you could walk through walls, or whatever."

"They ambushed me. They were supposed to scream and run like everyone else, but as soon as that Amazon saw me, she kicked me right in the bagpipe!"

"Bagpipe, huh?"

"It's a euphemism. It means…"

I waved my hand, cutting him off.

"I know what it means."

He groaned a little more.

"Well, now what?" I said. "You were supposed to help me get her alone."

"I don't know what you see in that girl," he said. "She's a menace to all vampire-kind."

"You might be right," I said.

I had to admit, I felt better knowing that Laura could hold her own against a vampire, even if she did think it was a ghost, and even if Danny did give her a literal leg up in the situation.

_Maybe I should just go back to the dorm,_ I thought. _She seems totally fine without me._

I pulled the bat wing bracelet out of my back pocket.

_She doesn't need this…or me._

Just then, I heard approaching footsteps and hushed voices.

I pulled on Dracula's arm, and he whined in return.

"Shut up!" I whispered. "We have to hide."

We crouched behind the bleachers just as their shadows appeared in the doorway. Danny led the way, using her phone like a flashlight, and Laura followed close behind, a camera in one hand and a dustpan in the other.

_She's filming this!_ I thought. _What a Nancy Drew nerd!_


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as I saw Laura's camera, I knew what I had to do.

_Let's give them a good show! _I thought.

And when I say I thought this, I mean I really thought it, as loudly as I could, and I sent it straight into Dracula's mind. (Vampires can do that sort of thing.)

And I knew he heard me, because he scowled and crossed his arms.

_No way! _he thought back. _No way in hell!_

I reached for his pasty white hand and gave my best puppy face.

_Aw, come on! Do it for me? I mean, you don't want to waste your costume, right? And you know all these cool tricks — this is your chance to shine!_

But he pushed my hands away and covered his own ears.

_No! No way!_

_Fine, then I'm going to tell Mother that you are here, and that you are pestering her pets._

_You wouldn't!_

_I would. And she's still pissed about last Halloween — all those pumpkins that came to life at midnight and attacked the library — I'd say she's pretty sick of your pranks._

_Fine. Fine, but only because this costume cost me an arm and a leg… literally._

_Ew, gross. Really?_

_Not a human arm and leg… don't be crass… it was a goat._

_Oh…_

Of course, Laura and Danny heard none of this. They were still inching their way into the gymnasium; Danny wielding the light on her phone around as if she were one of those TV cops, and Laura behind her, narrating as if she were a TV reporter.

I had to admit it, they were a pretty good team, and not just because they were dressed up like Team Science Mega Force.

"This is Laura Hollis, reporting from the Harrison Hall Gymnasium… where there appears to be paranormal activity occurring. You heard that right, all those rumors about the Harrison Hall Ghost may prove to be true…"

"I'm not so sure," Danny said. "Whatever I kicked didn't feel very paranormal at all."

"My fellow student-slash-paranormal investigator, Danny Lawrence, makes a good point. We are here to catch the ghost in action, and furthermore, bring the Silas student body solid evidence: Harrison Hall Ghost, or Harrison Hall Fraud?"

"Laura, be quiet!" Danny whispered.

They stood still.

"There's seems to be some activity behind the bleachers," Laura whispered into the camera. "We are going to go investigate. Stay tuned."

"Laura," Danny whispered. "It's not real time. They can't hear you."

"Oh, right, right."

I turned to Dracula and grabbed him by the shoulders.

_You have to expose yourself on camera! _I thought into Dracula's mind.

_What!? No way! Those girls are dangerous! I'll haunt from a distance, thank you very much._

_But you have to show up on camera or it won't be worth it!_

_I'm sorry, but my bagpipe has to draw the line somewhere._

_Alright, fine. Then what about that door trick?_

_Yeah, I can do that, but you've got to lure them out into the hallway first._

_And then what? What else can you do?_

_Let's see, lightning and thunder… banging on walls… moving furniture… Oh! And I can leave a spooky message on their camera audio!_

_That's good! Do all of that! We have to give them all the evidence we can. Laura eats this stuff up with a spoon!_

_Well, whatever we do, we better do it soon, because the Scooby gang is approaching fast._

He was right. They were already crossing the center of the basketball court.

_Alright, I'll go, but you better not disappoint me this time!_

I vaporized out of the gym and reappeared inside a classroom — an art room by the looks of it. I looked around for some sort of disguise. There were paints, paint brushes, easels, buckets, and in the back of the room, an enormous, mural-sized canvas leaning against the wall, half-covered in a dusty white sheet.

I walked to the canvas and pulled off the sheet. It was covered in paint splatters but it would have to do. I ripped two holes in the center of it and threw it over my head. It smelled like acrylic and decades of dust. I coughed.

_Not very original,_ I thought, _or very fashionable, but you can't go wrong with a classic._

I walked to the door.

_Here goes nothing,_ I thought before I headed out into the hallway.

*V V*

The hallway was quiet, but the double doors to the gymnasium stood open. If I listened closely, I could still hear Laura narrating into her camera and the Amazon begging her to shush.

It was time to get their attention. I cleared my throat and then moaned.

"Ooooooooooooh!" I said into the darkness.

_That was weak, Karnstein, _I thought. _You can do better!_

I took a deep breath, trying to remember those singing lessons I had had hundreds of years earlier. I tightened my stomach, reached deep into my gut, and then exhaled in the best howl I could muster — a howl that sounded remarkably similar to the opening theme of _La Traviata._

"Oooh! Oooooh! Oooooooh!" I howled.

The sound echoed down the hallway, and then dropped off suddenly.

It didn't take long for them to come snooping around the corner. I stood my ground, but when they appeared in the doorway, when they spotted me and Laura's jaw dropped, her hands shaking and her heart pounding, I had a sudden moment of doubt.

_What if she recognizes me?_ I thought. _What if she recognizes me and thinks I'm trying to make a fool out of her?_

My hands were shaking, too.

"Do you see that?" Danny said.

"Uh, yeah…yeah, I definitely see that," Laura said. "But what is it?"

"It's just an old sheet, I think," Danny said.

"Is it moving?"

"I don't know. You stay here. I'll go check it out."

_Yes!_ I thought. _Yes! Walk this way… that's right._

I raised my arms up and howled again, this time less operatic and more screamo.

"Ooooooooh!" I howled.

Danny jumped back.

"Did you get that on camera?"

"It's too dark," Laura said. "But I think I got it on audio. Dear humble viewers, that sound you just heard came from an apparition at the end of the hallway…"

"Let's try to get closer," Danny said.

"We will pursue the apparition in attempt to get a more solid visual. Stay tuned."

_Oh, shit!_ I thought. _Now what?_

I waved my arms and howled as I danced toward the corner, luring them further down the hallway.

"Oooooooooh! Ooooooooh! Ooooo—-Ach!"

My screamo howls and the acrylic fumes were taking a toll on my vocal chords. I coughed.

"Ack! Ack!"

I ducked into a classroom and listened as they passed. My eyes watered as I suppressed another cough.

"Did you hear that?" Danny said.

"Hear what?" Laura said.

They stopped just on the other side of the door.

"That coughing," Danny said.

"What coughing?"

They were silent. My throat burned and my eyes were soaked with tears, until finally a cough erupted from my mouth.

"Ack! Ack!"

Their shadows spun around. I know because I saw them through the frosted glass.

"That coughing!" Danny shouted.

"Wait a minute," Laura said. "Ghosts don't cough. I think someone's trying to pull a fast one."

"Well, there's only one way to find out."

I panicked. I stepped backwards into the room, watching in horror as the door knob turned ever so slowly.

"That's right, humble viewers, it appears as though there is an imposter in Harrison Hall tonight; an imposter impersonating the Harrison Hall Ghost in an attempt to scare innocent Silas students. And now we have the imposter trapped in this classroom, and once we open that door, we will know for sure!"

They were silent. The door knob was still.

"Well?" Laura said.

"Oh, you're finished with your lead in?"

"Yeah! Let's go catch this jerk!"

"On the count of three!" Danny whispered.

With nowhere to run, I vaporized into a black cloud and retreated into the corner of the room.

The dusty sheet fell to the floor just as Danny pushed opened the door. She spotted it immediately and held it up to the camera.

"It's still warm," she said.

"Ah-ha!" Laura said. "So we were right! There is an imposter!"

"And she… or he… must still be in this room!"

They jumped closer together. They stood back to back, circling around each other, Laura raising her dust pan even higher, and Danny shining her light over every corner of the room.

Just then, lightning flashed outside, followed quickly by the BOOM! and CRACK! of thunder.

The girls jumped.

I watched from the corner, hovering over them and hating the way their backs touched as they huddled closer together.

BOOM! BANG!

The thunder boomed again, and the door slammed shut.

They screamed and ran to the door, Danny pulling on the handle, and Laura pushing up against Danny's back, banging and screaming spastically.

I nearly re-materialized right then. I nearly called out, "Don't worry, it's not real!" But I stopped myself at the last minute.

_This is what we want,_ I reminded myself.

"It's jammed shut!" Danny cried out.

She banged on the door as the thunder crashed again. I spread myself out as thin as smoke against the ceiling, afraid that the flashes of lightning would give me away.

"What do you mean, it's jammed shut?" Laura called out.

"Someone must be holding it from the other side!"

"Hey!" Laura shouted through the door. "Whoever's out there, this is not funny! I repeat, this is no where_ near _funny, and as soon as we get out of here, we're going to report you to campus security! I've got everything on video! Do you hear me?! Do you?!"

Suddenly, the lightning and thunder stopped, and the room was quiet, save for the sounds of their panting, save for the sounds of their pounding hearts.

Laura pushed Danny aside.

"This! Is! Not! Funny!" she shouted as she yanked open the door, nearly falling backwards into Danny's arms.

"Uh, Laura…" Danny said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"There's nobody there," Danny said. "I mean, I swear that door was jammed shut a few seconds ago!"

"Yeah…very fishy…"

They shuffled out into the hallway, and not a moment too soon; I was having trouble keeping myself together. I had been vaporous for too long, which had left me nauseous and confused, like if I didn't reappear in my solid form, then I was going to fly apart at the atomic level.

I fell to the floor, landing hard on my hands and knees, grimacing instead of crying out, because the last thing I needed was to attract their attention. I picked up the sheet and pulled it over my head, still nauseous and dizzy, and in desperate need of fresh blood, or at the very least, a sugar rush.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," I heard Danny chanting from the hallway. "Don't be camera shy Mr. Ghost…"

"Or Mr. Fraud!" Laura chimed in.

I peeked my head out into the hallway, and they were so far down that they were nearly at the corner, nearly ready to turn into the entrance hall.

_Dracula! What are you waiting for?_ I thought.

And, then, as if answering my call, every door in the hallway opened at once — not with a bang, but slowly, deliberately, and eerily in synch.

"Okay," Laura said. "I take back that last part…"

I felt a tingling then, like the air was charged with electricity, and I was suddenly cold. (Yes, being of the undead, I am extremely tolerant of low temperatures, but it was so cold, that even _I_ felt goosebumps, a sensation I hadn't experienced in decades.)

The hallway began to glow with a radiant light, and I knew all at once, that there was something behind me, something standing at the double doors that led into the gymnasium, something large, powerful and _far _from benevolent.

I turned around.

It was a whitish cloud at first, nebulous but large. And then, before my eyes, it grew wings, or rather, it flapped its wings out, holding them out and up, just like a vulture might before pouncing on a carcass.

_Dracula? Is that you? _I thought.

There was no answer.

A black hole opened in the center of the radiant cloud and it unleashed a horrendous, piercing scream. And the scream sounded unlike any scream I'd ever heard; not a singular voice, but rather, a multitude of voices, all crying out in horror and agony, each voice moving independently, each voice scrambling down the hallway like a pack of wolves ready to attack.

Instinctively, I jumped into the center of the hallway. Instinctively, I threw myself between the pack of voices and Laura, but it didn't matter. They stopped only for a moment, reaching into my body, grabbing desperately for something… grabbing for my essence… grabbing for my _soul_. When they discovered I didn't have one, they ran right through me, as cold as death and as powerful as a moving train. I stumbled backwards.

I heard Laura scream, and I heard her camera drop to the floor. But she did not run. Not her, nor Danny. They stood still, as dumb as two deer, their mouths agape and their eyes wide.

I gathered up every last ounce of energy I had and I ran toward them. And when I say ran, I mean I ran fast!

"Get down!" I shouted. "Get down!"

But still, they didn't move.

At the last moment, I outpaced the pack of hungry screams; at the last moment, I threw my arms out, catching both girls in a clothesline maneuver that knocked them both flat on their backs.

The screams shot through me a second time, and then ran straight into the cold brick wall at the end of the corridor and disappeared.

But we weren't safe yet.

I turned to see the cloud of light. It had taken a more sinisterly human form. Its great wings expanded behind it. Its black mouth hung open, and above that it had two glowing red eyes. It held its hands, palms together, in front of its chest and floated toward me, its head tilted at an eerie angle. It opened its mouth and screamed again — this time I felt its truly horrible nature.

"You can't have these girls!" I shouted back.

It flapped its great wings so hard that the gust of wind shook the very foundation of the building.

"You can have me if you want; I'm already dead! But you can't touch these girls!"

I stood strong, my fists clenched and ready for a fight. I looked it right in its hellish red eyes and I held my breath.

_Over my dead body,_ I thought.

It reared its head back, screaming one last time. Then it curled its wings around itself, and as if collapsing into another dimension, it disappeared.

The hallway was silent again.

"Okay," Laura said. "What the hell was that?! And… who the hell are you?! And…what the hell was that?!"

I looked down at myself, still dressed in a dusty sheet.

I raised my hands up in the air.

"Oooooh!" I said. "I'm the daughter of the Harrison Hall Ghooooost!"

"What?" Danny said.

She flashed her phone light at my feet. "Since when do ghosts wear cowboy boots?"

"Ooooooooh! Ooooh!" I said again, taking several steps backward.

"Hey, wait!" Laura said. "You just saved our lives…"

She reached for the bottom of the sheet.

"Who are you?"

"Oooooooh! Oooooh!" I howled again. "I'm noooooooo one you knooooooooooow!"

And before she could pull the sheet off I vaporized.

*V V*

I only had enough energy to get just outside the front entrance.

When I re-materialized, I felt like I had been hit by a bus inside of a train inside of a steamboat. My head throbbed and I felt so nauseous that if I had, had any energy, I might have thrown up.

I heard their screams before I heard the entrance door fly open. I ducked into some bushes, and of course, those bushes had thorns.

Danny and Laura ran out into the gravel path. Then they stopped, turning toward each other, grabbing forearms and laughing.

"Did you see that!?" Laura cried. "Did you see that!?"

"Yes, yes! Did you get it on video!?"

"I hope so! Let me check," Laura said, looking down at her camera.

"Hey," Danny said, pulling Laura by the arm. "Let's get out of here first."

"Good idea."

And they ran off across the grassy quad, giggling and laughing and squealing like a couple of crazed school girls.

_Mission accomplished,_ I thought to myself.

I stood up and pricked the thorns from my side.

Just then Dracula appeared, walking right through the brick wall as if it were made of smoke, or rather, as if he were made of smoke.

"Boo!" he cried out.

"God!" I shouted. "What's your damage?!"

"Sorry, I just got bored waiting for you guys. What happened to our plan?"

"What do you mean, our plan? Didn't you see that thing in there?"

"No, what thing?" he looked around himself.

"Angel of Death? Wings like a goddamn vulture? Eyes like the pits of hell and cries like a pack of ravenous screams?"

"Not ringing any bells, no," he said.

_So, it really wasn't him,_ I thought.

"Never mind," I said. "I need a pop."

I hobbled home, taking the long way, stopping by the campus convenience store for a can of Bad Wolf.

Dracula tagged along, almost as excited as Laura and Danny had been.

_How come everyone else is so giddy, tonight?_ I thought. _I guess I'm just not the giddy type._

He walked me all the way back to my dorm and probably would have followed me upstairs had I not stopped him at the front door. He hugged me and I was so tired I didn't even try to avoid it.

"This was nice," he said. "Let's do it again sometime."

"Yeah, let me just pencil you in — how's 2024 looking for you?"

"I don't know why you try so hard to appear indifferent," he said. "I know you had fun."

"And I don't know why you're so desperate for my company. All I do is insult you and scowl."

"Newsflash! You're fun!"

"I'm not fun."

"You're super fun."

"I'm the opposite of fun."

"Fine, then you're nice."

"Nope. Wrong again."

"Well, then I don't know! _I just like you_, _okay_?"

"Oh…"

Just then the light from my dorm room window turned on. I looked up. Laura called out my name and her voice — bright and happy — echoed across the lawn.

"Carmilla! Carmilla! I have the craziest story to tell you! You're never going to believe this!" she said, but her voice trailed off in a disappointed sort of way.

"Carmilla?"

Dracula nudged me in the ribs.

"I guess I'm not the only one," he whispered and then he disappeared in a cloud of powdery white smoke. I coughed.

*V V*

When I walked into our room, Laura was at her computer, already busy uploading the videos from the night. She had taken off her costume and changed into her pajamas. She had let out her hair, and now it was pulled back into a messy, crimped ponytail.

"Oh, hey," I said.

I made my way straight to the mini fridge and poured myself a generous glass of blood.

"Oh, hey," she said, turning in her chair. "Where have you been…wait a minute…is that a costume I see?"

She stood up and walked toward me.

"No," I said. "These are my normal clothes."

"Oh, no, no, no! Flannel shirt, jeans, cowboy boots!? You're a cowgirl! Admit it!"

"Fine," I said. "Fine. I'm a cowgirl."

"So you went to the Zeta party?"

"For a minute, but then I ditched it…spent the rest of my night with an old friend."

"Oh," Laura said, and I thought I heard a drop of jealousy in her voice.

Her computer bleeped at us and she ran to her chair.

"That's it! You're not going to believe the footage I caught tonight."

"You really need to get a life," I said.

Suddenly, Laura pushed play, and I recognized myself right away, covered in a dusty sheet with my arms outstretched. Danny spoke out, _Since when do ghosts wear cowboy boots?_

I blushed horribly, hoping that I was so depleted of blood that Laura wouldn't notice. She did push pause, however, and when she looked at me, I took a long drink of my blood, hiding behind the lip of her Doctor Who mug.

"Did you…?" she started, her mouth twisted and her nose scrunched up.

"Did I what?" I said with as much sass as I could muster, plopping myself down on my bed.

"I mean… your boots…"

"Oh, yeah, they're vintage…1890's. Do you like them?" I said, admiring my own boots.

"No, I mean… yes. I mean… never mind."

"Look, are you going to show me your lame video or what? Because I haven't finished reading good ol' Edgar Allan yet."

Her face lit up and she rolled her chair toward my bed.

"Okay!" she said. "But first, we need hot chocolate and, like, a whole bag of cookies, because this is, like, a viewing event! This is, like, Webby worthy footage. This is, like…"

"I got it, I got it," I said.

She flitted about the room, her smile so big that it was contagious. And when she sat on the bed next to me, (yes, on _my_ bed) placing the plastic tray of cookies between us and placing a cup of cocoa in my hand, I may have felt a little giddy.

It was hard to tell, though; my heart no longer pounded and my pulse no longer rushed.

But when Dracula appeared on the screen, she jumped in my direction, leaning closer to me and touching my hand — and for the second time that night, I had goosebumps.

*V V* The End *V V*


End file.
